


A Lesson in Human Attraction

by sparklight



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Gen, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-12 23:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20164681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: Murderbot really wasn't prepared for those 26 cycles in dealing with humans. Even less so when one interaction early on becomes verypersonal.





	A Lesson in Human Attraction

I really could have done without finding out that pinning someone one-handed up against a wall and laying down the rules for a hopefully passably comfortable trip for everyone and including '_Don't_ touch Security Consultant Rin' would lead to having one of said passengers then approaching me and swooning about how "impressive" I had been.

Sure, being admired was a new experience and not exactly _unwanted_, but I was already done with it with my previous clients and _they_, at least, had the common sense to be admiring of my ability to keep them non-murdered at an arms' length. This human? Did not. He didn't even pause as he reached me, or ask if he could touch me, just latched right on and I found a cold chill followed by a flash of heat was intensely uncomfortable. (I can't and don't need to sweat like humans do, so at least that sensation wasn't followed by another form of _leaking_, but I had to double check, despite knowing I couldn't be.)

I really, really, could have done without finding out that such practical displays that usually only led to fearful cowering might instead lead to _sexual arousal and interest_ in me, when I'm now pretending to actually be human. The shock was so great, it took me a full three seconds to respond in any way that wasn't the need to either run away or curl up.

"... What."

I didn't even have the presence of mind to grab the nearest of the few cameras Transport had to watch my expression to make sure I wasn't doing something with my face that might give me away, but it was probably just a study in horror. Or maybe I was so shocked I looked as blank as I sounded. Luckily I know humans do look and sound like that sometimes, and it _isn't_ just something that happens in media for drama, so there was no additional reason to panic. The reasons I already had were plenty enough, honestly. The shock served one purpose though; it was the only thing keeping me from flinging the clingy human off my arm and into the nearest wall on pure reflex (he'd just been designated as a Target by threat assessment, which, admittedly, was a little dramatic, but I think it was pretty understandable). In hindsight, this was probably where my teeny, tiny desire to kill the whole group of passengers started.

"Never had someone show some _appreciation_ for your skill?" There was a wink. A straight-up wink and I instantly decided I did not like to see this gesture anywhere but in visual media. Even then, it always looked awkward and weird, like a glitch in the muscle control and not an intentional movement that further was supposed to be _flirty_. "I could teach you so mu---"

"No." I said that to the wall, not the man's face, because this had become too much to deal with over a minute ago and my performance capacity was down to 93% by now. Somehow, I pried the hand on my arm off without breaking a single bone or even fracturing any, and turned around. All my carefully built coding for those irrational, unnecessary movements humans make was gone, hidden somewhere I didn't feel like unearthing at the moment, so the movement was probably surprisingly abrupt and too fast for the human to react to in time. It was very reassuring to only move exactly as much as I needed to as I began to stride away.

"Wait!"

I did not wait.

I didn't _run_ either, but I lengthened my steps as he tried to follow, and then I hid in my bunkspace after taking a shower (and as nice as facilities for humans are, even the cheapest ones, it didn't make me feel better this time). I had to skip past several scenes and even a full episode of several different shows in very short order before I finally pulled up a book about strange synthetics, knowing that the text, at least, would not spring even the tiniest bit of human sexuality on me.

I did not need to know what I'd just found out, and so promptly erased that memory, though the discomfort remained. The idea that I might in some way be _attractive_ to the humans around me now that they didn't see a terrifying SecUnit but rather another (augmented) human was so uncomfortable it took nearly until the next cycle before my performance capacity was back up to 100%.

Luckily the humans behaved until then, so when I was forced to leave my bunk three hours into the next cycle I could once again glare in the general vicinity of the quarreling humans and sternly tell them to stop. I didn't even yell. This I could deal with. This was what I was _supposed_ to deal with.


End file.
